Goran Dragic #7 and Hassan Whiteside #21 of the Miami Heat walk up the floor against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on November 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

@Aj3th: Was the Heat’s 30-11 finish misleading? Riley invested in this roster and it’s not working.

Anthony Chiang: Yeah … about that. This Heat roster was never going to be a 60-win team. The hope was that it would be a 45 to 50-win team. But even that seems unrealistic right now. Though 21 games, the Heat look like a mediocre .500 squad at 10-11. That’s just not good enough, considering the Heat invested long-term money in Dion Waiters, James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk this summer. In fact, Miami is already way above the projected $103 million 2018-19 salary cap. The Heat currently have 10 players under contract for next season that will cost them a total of about $117 million. So unless there’s a big trade in the near future, get used to this roster.

I will say this: While I always thought it was questionable to judge this team based on that 30-11 41-game sample size, it’s also unfair to judge them based on a 21-game sample size. It’s still early, and center Hassan Whiteside has clearly not been 100 percent for most of the season. But right now, this looks like a mediocre team. Remember, the Heat also finished as a .500 team last season. No matter how they got there — an 11-30 start followed by a 30-11 finish — the Heat ended the year at 41-41. Could this just be what the Heat are?

Anthony Chiang: We’re going to find out this answer soon. As in soon, we should have more information Friday. There’s a chance Hassan Whiteside will be ready to play Friday against the Hornets. And there’s a chance he could miss more time with lingering left knee soreness. Whiteside sounds concerned about the pain, telling reporters before Wednesday’s game in New York: ““It has really been bothering me throughout the season. It had been bothering me since Orlando. We’re going to figure it out. We’re going to figure it out when we get back to Miami and figure out what’s wrong.” One thing is pretty clear, the Heat need Whiteside. When he’s on the court, Miami has posted a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 99.3 this season. But when he’s not playing, that defensive rating is worse at 106.9.